I hate to jump the gun because there is still time for an abduction or trip ruining theft, but these people are amazing! truly some of the best people to travel amongst than i have ever experienced. i expected kind, open, warm and hospitable, and they are all that, but i did not expect tranquillo... my single biggest fear of traveling in latin america was the fear of machismos. no pasa nada! they are inquisitive and talkative, but they have a sense of personal space and i´m unmolested until i break the ice. its partly because they´re not used to tourists or travelers and so i pass through the radar. reassessing the dangers still my biggest danger is the opportunist.
so much has happened since i rode out of bogota that its a blur. i don´t think i´ve ever passed through such a diversity of landscapes and variety of people in all my travels.
Day 1- over an hour to get through town and it was a crazy bout of rush hour, but at about 25-kms i was in the clear. looking forward to the big descent into the abyss of heat and sun. it had been chilly in bogota, its the general climate there at 8500´, and so i was part longing and part dreading the weather that was awaiting me below. but before the plunge i had a 5-km surprise, straight up. i felt as though i were climbing the rim of a crater to extract myself and that i was dropping into a cauldron. at this final summit a ¨parador ciclistas¨ awaited me, and two caballeros who greated me with ¨bienvenidos a colombia!¨, and even though i´d been in colombia for almost a week i was now entering ¨colombia¨.
i passed through eco-zones faster than i could recognize them and rode the breaks to slow my descent. its easy to drop at over 100´per minute (says my watch), and so in 10-mins i could descend 1000´and miss so much. i rode the breaks and rubbernecked. i went so slow and stopped so much that it got dark before i could plan my arrival in a village or find a camp spot. it had been raining most of the way -- no shit, i was in dense ass jungle ever since plunging from the desert summit, but now i had to spend my first day on the road riding in the dark. i came to the pueblo of La Mesa and got a room for more than i´d wanted, but i didn´t even consider the options. it was $5, what the hell.... i was wet and cold and had a bed and a shower. ahhh, there´s another great thing that i missed about traveling in tropical climes: cold showers are always so invigorating no matter how hot its been!
it rained so hard while eating dinner that night along the main street that everyone pulled off and it became a virtual river spilling over its 4¨curbs. 75-kms, 4-hours, 4000´descent.
Day 2- Mira, there´s no way i can catch up now and give a blow by blow, it´d probably bore us both to death to do so in one sitting, so we´ll both take a break and i´ll get back to the party thats going on outside. alright, i´ll tell you about the latest:
two nights ago i camped in the back yard of un estacion de los bomberos (firestation) in a very small town 3-days out of bogota. they told me about a desert nearby and so the next morning i headed off in that direction. two boys lead me out on their bikes and they guided me into an adventure i had quite expected. the firemen made it sound like a paved road and so were it not for these kids i would have certainly turned back, and so we went out through marshland and mud until we finally came to the river. one boy whistled across the river and eventually the boatman came across and picked me up (have you ever read siddharta?). there were two crossings to get to the main banks and i came to one of the oldest towns in all of colombia: villavieja. this was the gateway town to El Desierto. super interesting town, and after a memorable morning there i finally wandered out into the desert. crappy roads but so amazing... it was utah-esque and i spent the entire day out there. trying to get out was another matter because i expected paved road and instead had 15-kms and 2-hours riding and pushing. i came to the crest of this hill and expected futility, another glimpse across a valley of nothing but desert or jungle and a rode cuttting through it, but no... a village! i made it out just in time for a meal before nightfall. i always ending riding in the dark. the trend continued because i was told of a feria in the next town, 15km away and just had to come see. i got here in the dark and the celebrations had just kicked off.
i ended up going out with a bigwig who was the only other guest staying at my hotel (hotels are just peoples houses out here in the small towns) and he took me up on the mainstage and i made one of opening remarks of the weekend festival. we went to a cockfight, hung out in the disco tent, but we were back at the hotel, dead, by 930 and the party really got going at 10 and lasted all night. i heard the last of the fireworks at 5am this morning. and this is a small town, mind you.
by rough calculation i´m about 450 riding kilometers from bogota... completely amazing place and not the least fear of danger. its reputation probably makes it safer as these people don´t know how to react to a gringo when they see one.
tomorrow i´m off further south, to san augustine which should take me a few days through more jungleish stuff... its been mostly desert for a few days now. the plan is then to popoyan, then back northwards into coffee country.
con mucho amore from tello, colombia!
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